I must admit that I had some wrong ideas about the origin of the names of some of the places in Assam, which are in some way associated with Assam tea history. For example, Maniram Dewan started one of the first tea plantations at a small spot called Cinnamora in Jorhat. I thought “Cinnamora” might relate to the Chinese labourers who once worked in tea gardens. Locals call Chinese people “Sinna,” which sounds similar to me.
Another confusion came from reading an Assamese book by Rita Choudhary, titled Makam. Although the book did not mention the place “Makum” early on, I guessed that Upper Assam’s Makum took its name from “Makam,” where Chinese tea garden workers first settled.
As I researched more, I realised my mistake. The place “Cinnamora” was originally “Cenimora,” even before Maniram Dewan started the tea gardens. So, its name had no link to the Chinese workers.
Regarding Makum, I may partly be right. Makum likely derives from “Makam.” In Cantonese, “Makam” means “meeting place.” It can also mean “golden horse” in Chinese. Interestingly, in the Tai Ahom language, “Makam” also means “meeting point.” This overlap makes the origin of the name unclear. We can guess two possibilities: either the Tai Ahoms named the place, or Chinese workers who settled there called it “Makam,” and over time, it became “Makum.” However, we cannot be certain. The name’s precise origin is debated, but both linguistic and social history in Assam acknowledge Chinese and Tai Ahom roots as possible sources.
I’ve always been curious about the Chinese workers who settled in Assam’s tea plantations. Who were they? How did they come to Assam? And how did they end up working in these gardens? These questions intrigued me deeply. So, I began researching to uncover their story. Let’s explore what I found together.
Early Chinese Workers in Assam’s Tea Gardens
Most tea lovers are familiar with Assam as the heart of Indian tea. Yet not many know the story of the first skilled workers in Assam tea, the Chinese tea workers. Their journey in the 19th century shaped the future of Assam tea, but it ended in hardship and mystery. The beginnings of Assam’s tea industry are closely tied to the arrival of Chinese workers. In the early 19th century, the British East India Company began exploring commercial tea cultivation in Assam. Although Assam had wild tea plants, tea cultivation was a skill perfected in China over centuries. To establish successful tea plantations, the British brought skilled Chinese workers to Assam. These pioneers were experts in tea growing and processing.
Why Did the British Bring Chinese Workers to Assam?
Chinese tea workers played a crucial role in the early development of Assam’s tea industry. In the 1830s, British companies were eager to break China’s long-standing monopoly on tea production. Although Assam had native wild tea plants, the British doubted local expertise in cultivating and processing quality tea. To overcome this, they brought experienced Chinese labourers whose tea skills were world-renowned.
British botanists first identified Assam’s wild tea plants in 1823. The Assam Tea Company, at its peak, employed around 70 Chinese workers. These labourers earned wages that were four to five times higher than local workers, a reflection of their specialised knowledge and skill in tea cultivation.
Many Chinese workers came from China’s famous tea-growing provinces, bringing decades of expertise in specialised tasks like leaf plucking, withering, and rolling, techniques essential to producing fine tea. British experts believed that local workers alone could not quickly match the quality and efficiency of Chinese tea craft.
The presence of Chinese workers raised hopes within the British tea industry that Assam tea could soon rival Chinese tea on the global market. Indeed, Chinese experts were tasked with training Indian workers, passing on crucial tea-making techniques to build a skilled workforce.
Struggles of the Chinese Tea Workers in Assam
Life on Assam’s early plantations pushed the first Chinese tea workers to their limits. They arrived expecting to practise the craft they had perfected in Fujian and Guangdong, yet the reality was starkly different. Dense, leech-ridden jungle surrounded every garden, and in the monsoon months, many estates lay cut off for weeks at a time. Tropical diseases hit hard; malaria, black-water fever, and cholera routinely swept through the camps, and company records show that in the rainy seasons of 1840-41, more than half of the Chinese workforce was too sick to work and was eventually dismissed. Food shortages compounded the misery; supplies of rice and familiar vegetables were erratic, and many migrants longed for the tastes of home.
Planters also demanded far more than tea making. Because cheap general labour was scarce, managers ordered the Chinese to clear forests, build roads and drain swamps, tasks the men viewed as “menial” and outside their contracts. J. W. Masters, a tea superintendent, complained that the Chinese “object to do anything else but make tea” and threatened to quit if forced into jungle work. Friction soon flared, and company files label them “turbulent, obstinate and rapacious,” and note repeated work stoppages, strikes and desertions throughout the 1840s. When groups petitioned for higher pay or safer quarters, many were simply put on boats back to Calcutta, while the quietest and “most experienced tea-makers” were retained on wages four to five times higher than local labourers.
High mortality, costly disputes and the expense of keeping skilled but assertive craftsmen convinced planters to abandon Chinese recruitment by the late 1850s. Yet the hardships they endured and the resistance they showed left a lasting imprint on Assam’s labour history and on the methods later passed to Indian and Adivasi tea makers.
Why Did the Chinese Labourers Disappear from Assam?
Several key factors explain the rapid decline of Chinese labourers in Assam’s tea plantations. Though they played an important early role, many Chinese workers left or died within a few decades. One major reason was their high wage demands. Chinese labourers earned four to five times more than local plantation workers, making them expensive for tea companies striving to reduce costs. Unlike many local or later “coolie” labourers, the Chinese did not tolerate poor working conditions or harsh treatment. British company reports frequently described them as “unmanageable” and lacking the desired “docility,” which further soured relations.
Health issues also took a devastating toll. Assam’s tropical climate exposed the newcomers to diseases like malaria, blackwater fever, and cholera. Death rates were alarmingly high, with many Chinese workers perishing within just six months of arrival. Combined with disputes over wages, work duties, and living conditions, these factors led to declining retention rates. By around 1860, almost all Chinese labourers had left Assam’s tea estates. A small number remained, choosing to settle and assimilate into local communities, but they were rare exceptions.
What Came Next in Assam’s Tea Story?
After the Chinese specialists quit the gardens, Assam’s planters faced an acute labour crisis. The solution was mass recruitment of indentured workers from Chotanagpur, Bengal and the Central Provinces, regions hundreds of kilometres away. Beginning in the late 1850s, licensed recruiters signed migrants to five-year contracts under the Workmen’s Breach of Contract Act, a law that made desertion a jailable offence. Within four decades, the imported workforce exploded from a few hundred to well over 400,000 by 1901, turning tea into one of colonial India’s largest migrant streams.
Local tribes and nearby hill peoples still found seasonal jobs, but the new migrants, today called Tea-Communityor Adivasi communities, soon became the backbone of production, passing down tea skills through generations. Their arrival reshaped plantation life: Assam’s gardens evolved into multilingual, multi-ethnic settlements where Bhojpuri, Sadri, Santhali and Assamese mixed with tribal dialects, creating a distinct labour culture that endures in the state’s tea belt today
The Lasting Impact on Assam Tea
The first wave of Chinese tea workers laid Assam’s technical foundation. They introduced precise leaf-plucking, withering and rolling methods. Planters still follow these techniques in today’s Assam orthodox manufacture. Their expertise guided early experiments with tea plants. They crossed local Assamica bushes with Chinese Camellia varieties. This created the hardy, high-yield hybrids now common across state gardens.
Disease, wage disputes and high costs drove these specialists away. Managers replaced them with a vast indentured workforce from central India. This created the “tea-tribe” communities that continue powering production today. Yet the vanished Chinese pioneers left an indelible mark.
Hand-made orthodox teas preserve their craft. Modern mechanised lines borrow their grading logic. Every cup of bold Assam brew carries a story. It tells of migration, innovation and resilience that began with early craftsmen
Did You Know?
- The Chinese tea workers were paid four times more than locals at first.
- Malaria was the biggest killer during their time in Assam.
- Tea from Assam reached Britain in 1838, only five years after the Chinese workers arrived.
- Many of Assam’s first black teas had names derived from Chinese words.
Conclusion
Chinese tea workers helped shape the start of Assam’s tea industry. Though few remember their story, their expertise helped plant the seeds of a global tea powerhouse. Their legacy lives in every cup of Assam tea today.
If you are interested to learn about them, do go through my post on the Assam Tea Garden Literature where I share some important literary pieces about the Tea Tribes of Assam.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.